The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1887-06-16
WAKE FOREST COLLEGE.
TAYLOR'S BACCA.
LAUREATE ADDRESS,.

ercises of this great college last week, our
greatest ''mistake" was in emitting to
make mention of the best speech of the
occasion-the address before the Alumni
Association by Mr.. J. H. Mills. His sub
ject was Mistakes" The speech was like
Mr. Mills. No other man could have made
it. 1t was rich in originality, quaintness
and strong common sense.
On Thursday Morning,
the Seniors spoke. The following was the
programme of the oratiOns:
Salutatory-J. B. Carlyle, of Robson
county. ct was in verse.)
Power of Truth"-E. J. Justice, of
Rutherford county.
1.-The Progress of Democratic Ideas
J. NJ. Brinson, of New Berne.
words F. Tatum, of Davie county
ga Hero in Hstory'-D. o. McCullers,
of Clayton.
Perseverance Leads to Victory H. E.
Copple, of Davidson county.
Valedictory-W. P. Stradley, of Oxford.
We have not room for the names of the
young gentlemen who prepared Theses.
Conferring of Degrees.
President Taylor delivered diplomas,
comforting degrees as follows: A. NJ:
Nessrs. J B. Carlyle, F. II. Manning, W.
J. Matthews, W. P. Stradley. A. B.:
Messrs. B. R. Browning, D. O. McCullers,
L. r. Pruett, W. F. Watson, H. E. Copple,
H. S. Pickett, l.. L, Vann. B. L.: Messrs.
J. NJ. Brlnson, T. E. Cheek, W. S. Olive,
E. F. Tatum B. s.: Messrs. E. J. Justice,
J. J. Lane, d. A. Pttard.
The Baccalaureate Address.
President Taylor then addressed the
graduating class. He said:
YoUNG GENTLEMEN: l congratulate you.
The diplomas which you have just received
are more than mere paper. Like bank
notes, they are intrinsically worthless,
but are evidence of value. They testify
to your wel-begun preparation for the
labors and struggles which await you. |
say begun for your education is not
completed yet; nor will it be till life is
ended.
We have but hardened your muscles,
and put tools into your hands, and given
you ladders and scaffolding for your work.
That is still before you. The building will
be what you shall make it.
And now the barriers are down. In a
few moments you shall enter the arena as
trained athletes, competitors for the laurel
wreaths which reward success
Nay l not congratulate you that your
wrestling and running are to be in such
au arena as that which is before you, and
at such an epoch as that in which you live.
You have studied these successive per
iods in which the hands upon the dial l-plate
have visibly moved forward. You have
watched the growth and trend Of civiliza
ton from the valley of the Euphrates and
~ hoy nft ha IL hn
of quickened thought and endeavor at
Athens-through the fulness of time and
Rome's Augustan glory-through those
eras when civilization was re-crystallzed
into modern forms. You have learned to
think and speak of past ages as bronze or
silver or golden. What epithet shall we
find with which to characterize our own
age, throbbing as it does with its varied
activities and atfording possibilities for
true greatness, heroic achievement and
abounding usefulness in the individual life
such as have been known by no former era
in the worlds long history
For to US has fallen the Inheritance of
the ages which are gone. The Pyrrhic
torch has passed from hand to hand until
at last in our hands it CLEANS with the
brilliancy Of an electric light. We stand
upon the fabric which dead giants have
builded. Our horizon is wider than theirs.
Nor are all the giants dead. The skirmish
line of vast army of seekers for truth is
advancing steadily, patiently, bravely into
the realm Of the unknown. Yet think not
that nothing remains for you to do as
thinkers and as workers. The broadening
of the light only serves to enlarge the
great circle of surrounding darkness. New
er in all the tide of time has there been an
era in which more stimulating influences
urged forward, or richer rewards were the
guerdon of toll. The world of thought is
in a ferment-in a Transition state, as
believe, into larger and wider apprehen-
sion of truth. May not | beg you, as cy-
clones of thought shall sweep aoout YOU
as maelstroms of doubt shall yawn before
you, to keep a steady hand upon the rud
der of your own thinking? Meteors will
dazzle you for the moment, but never for
get that the calm stars are still shining.
Siren voices will WOO you from old familiar
truths. Listen rather to the still small
voice which will testify to the eternal
principles of tt nth and right. Obedience
to these viii give symmetry to your char
acterS, success to your efforts and beauty
to your lives.
Let me beg you, young gentlemen, to
remember the peculiar responsibilities
which are upon you as members of the
Anglo Saxon race in the making and
moulding of this great America, for as
America and the Anglo Saxon race are, so
is the world to be. Some of you will live
to see population of $50, ,O00, 900 in the
United States. Our country is capable of
feeding, and before the close of the next
century will contain one thousand millions
of people. Truly has Matthew Arnold said
''Amerlca holds the future Does it not
stir your blood to think that you can exert
influences which may widen into the shap-
ing of this vast future? Our civilization
is likely to be subjected to terrible strains
and that too, in the early future. There
are perils from immigration. In the year
1900 our foreignborn population with
their children will number forty three mil
lion souls. And let us not forget that
these are coming, and will continue to
come, largely from the ignorant and pau
per and vicious classes. There are perils
from intemperance. Already the bar
rooms in this land, this cultured and
Christian land, would reach in an unbroken
line from New York to Chicago, allowing
twenty feet for each. In them 5000, ,OOO,-
900 of the countrys earnings are spent!
There are perils from socialism, which, as
has been said, seeks TO solve the problem
of suffering without eliminating the fac
tor of sin. There are at least 200, 900 men
in the United States with arms in their
hands, who are eager to invade and de-
stroy the sarctities of the family life, to
pollute the affairs of our religion and to